System and method for providing listing assistance

ABSTRACT

In various example embodiments, a system and method for providing listing assistance to a user is provided. In example embodiments, a query is received from a device of the user. Information from a category that corresponds to the query is accessed. Statistic data is generated using the information accessed from the category that corresponds to the query. The statistic data is provided for display to the device of the user.

The present application claims the priority benefit of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/091,904, filed Apr. 21, 2011 and entitled“System and Method for Providing Listing Assistance,” which claims thepriority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No, 61/327,041,filed Apr. 22, 2010 and entitled “Selling Manager Applications,” thecontent of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to publication systems, and ina specific example embodiment, to providing listing assistance forcreating a publication for the publication system.

BACKGROUND

When creating a publication for inclusion in a publication system, auser is often unsure as to what information to include in thepublication. For an example whereby the publication is a listing of anitem for sale on an auction system, the user may wonder what a gooddescription, starting bid price, or shipping cost may be for thelisting. The user may perform multiple searches of the auction system tofind current listings for the same or similar items and see what otherusers have done. However, the multiple searching and comparison processis time consuming and may be inaccurate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Various ones of the appended drawings merely illustrate exampleembodiments of the present invention and cannot be considered aslimiting its scope.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of anetwork architecture of a system used to identify items depicted inimages.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of apublication system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a listassist engine.

FIG. 4 are screenshots of a user interface for providing listingassistance.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example high-level method for providinglisting assistance.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an example detailed method for performinganalysis in order to provide the listing assistance.

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a machine in an example form ofa computing system within which a set of instructions for causing themachine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed hereinmay be executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the present invention. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident,however, to those skilled in the art that, embodiments of the inventivesubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques have not been shown in detail.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Additionally, although various example embodimentsdiscussed below focus on a network-based publication environment, theembodiments are given merely for clarity in disclosure. Thus, any typeof electronic, publication, electronic commerce, or electronic businesssystem and method, including various system architectures, may employvarious embodiments of the publication system and method describedherein and be considered as being within a scope of example embodiments.Each of a variety of example embodiments is discussed in detail below.

Example embodiments described herein provide systems and methods forproviding listing assistance to a user. In example embodiments, a queryis received from a device of the user. Information from a category thatcorresponds to the query is retrieved. The category may be a productcategory that is identified based on a product identifier number and aproduct identifier type. In one embodiment, a plurality of publicationsis accessed which include item listings from a networked marketplace.Statistic data is generated using the information from the category thatcorresponds to the query. The statistic data may include one or more ofa minimum selling price, a maximum selling price, an average sellingprice, a median selling price, an average shipping price, an average BuyIt Now price. The statistic data may also comprise counts (e.g.,percentage and number of publications) directed to immediate paymentavailability, best offer availability. Buy It Now availability, listingtypes used, and shipping methods used. The statistic data is provided tothe device of the user for display on a user interface. The user may usethe statistic data to aid the user in determining type of informationand options to be included in a new publication generated by the user.

By using embodiments of the present invention, a user creating apublication can easily and quickly determine what information the usermay want to include in their publication without having to continuallyperform searches for similar publications from which to model theirpublication. Accordingly, one or more of the methodologies discussedherein may obviate a need for additional searching on a networkedsystem, which may have the technical effect of reducing computingresources used by one or more devices within the system. Examples ofsuch computing resources include, without limitation, processor cycles,network traffic, memory usage, storage space, and power consumption.

With reference to FIG. 1, an example embodiment of a high-levelclient-server-based network architecture 100 to provide content based onan image is shown. A networked system 102, in an example form of anetwork-server-side functionality, is coupled via a communicationnetwork 104 (e.g., the Internet, wireless network, cellular network, ora Wide Area Network (WAN)) to one or more client devices 110 and 112.FIG. 1 illustrates, for example, a web client 106 operating via abrowser (e.g., such as the INTERNET EXPLORER® browser developed byMicrosoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash. State), and a programmaticclient 108 executing on respective client devices 110 and 112.

The client devices 110 and 112 may comprise a mobile phone, desktopcomputer, laptop, or any other communication device that a user mayutilize to access the networked system 102. In some embodiments, theclient devices 110 may comprise or be connectable to an image capturedevice (e.g., camera). The client device 110 may also comprise one ormore of a voice recognition module (not shown) to receive audio input, atouchscreen to receive tactile input, an accelerometer, GPS, or adisplay module (not shown) to display information (e.g., in the form ofuser interfaces).

An Application Program Interface (API) server 114 and a web server 116are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectivelyto, one or more application servers 118. The application servers 118host a publication system 120 and a payment system 122, each of whichmay comprise one or more modules, applications, or engines, and each ofwhich may be embodied as hardware, software, firmware, or anycombination thereof. The application servers 118 are, in turn, coupledto one or more database servers 124 facilitating access to one or moreinformation storage repositories or database(s) 126. In one embodiment,the databases 126 are storage devices that store publication data oruser account information.

The publication system 120 publishes content on a network (e.g.,Internet). As such, the publication system 120 provides a number ofpublication and marketplace functions and services to users that accessthe networked system 102. The publication system 120 is discussed inmore detail in connection with FIG. 2. In one embodiment, thepublication system 120 is associated with a marketplace environment(e.g., auction system, online store). It should be noted thatembodiments of the present invention may be applicable tonon-marketplace environments.

The payment system 122 provides a number of payment services andfunctions to users. The payment system 122 allows users to accumulatevalue (e.g., in a commercial currency, such as the U.S. dollar, or aproprietary currency, such as “points”) in accounts, and then later toredeem the accumulated value for products (e.g., goods or services) thatare made available via the publication system 120. The payment system122 also facilitates payments from a payment mechanism (e.g., a bankaccount, PayPal, or credit card) for purchases of items via thenetwork-based marketplace. While the publication system 120 and thepayment system 122 are shown in FIG. 1 to both form part of thenetworked system 102, it will be appreciated that, in alternativeembodiments, the payment system 122 may form part of a payment servicethat is separate and distinct from the networked system 102.

While the example network architecture 100 of FIG. 1 employs aclient-server architecture, a skilled artisan will recognize that thepresent disclosure is not limited to such an architecture. The examplenetwork architecture 100 can equally well find application in, forexample, a distributed or peer-to-peer architecture system. Thepublication system 120 and payment system 122 may also be implemented asstandalone systems or standalone software programs operating underseparate hardware platforms, which do not necessarily have networkingcapabilities.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an example block diagram illustrating multiplecomponents that, in one example embodiment, are provided within thepublication system 120 of the networked system 102 (see FIG. 1) isshown. The publication system 120 may be hosted on dedicated or sharedserver machines (not shown) that are communicatively coupled to enablecommunications between the server machines. The multiple componentsthemselves are communicatively coupled (e.g., via appropriateinterfaces), either directly or indirectly, to each other and to variousdata sources, to allow information to be passed between the componentsor to allow the components to share and access common data. Furthermore,the components may access the one or more database(s) 126 via the one ormore database servers 124, both shown in FIG. 1.

In one embodiment, the publication system 120 provides a number ofpublishing, listing, and price-setting mechanisms whereby a seller maylist (or publish information concerning) goods or services for sale in apublication (also referred to as a “listing”), a buyer can expressinterest in or indicate a desire to purchase such goods or services, anda price can be set for a transaction pertaining to the goods orservices. To this end, the publication system 120 may comprise at leastone publication engine 202 and one or more auction engines 204 thatsupport auction-format listing and price setting mechanisms (e.g.,English, Dutch, Chinese, Double. Reverse auctions, etc.). The variousauction engines 204 also provide a number of features in support ofthese auction-format listings, such as a reserve price feature whereby aseller may specify a reserve price in connection with a listing and aproxy-bidding feature whereby a bidder may invoke automated proxybidding.

In other embodiments, the publication system 120 is directed toproviding general information to a user. In these embodiments, thepublication system may comprise a collection of websites and associateddata repositories. For simplicity, the description of exampleembodiments is presented with reference to a networked marketplace.However, it will be understood that embodiments may be applicable to anon-marketplace environment. As such, not all components of thepublication system 120, as described herein, may be necessary.

A pricing engine 206 supports various price listing formats. One suchformat is a fixed-price listing format (e.g., the traditional classifiedadvertisement-type listing or a catalog listing). Another formatcomprises a buyout-type listing. Buyout-type listings (e.g., theBuy-It-Now! (BIN) technology developed by eBay Inc., of San Jose,Calif.) may be offered in conjunction with auction-format listings andallow a buyer to purchase goods or services, which are also beingoffered for sale via an auction, for a fixed price that is typicallyhigher than a starting price of an auction for an item.

A listing creation engine 208 allows users to conveniently authorlistings of items or allows content providers to author contentpublications. In one embodiment, the listings pertain to goods orservices that a user (e.g., a seller) wishes to transact via thepublication system 120. In other embodiments, the user may create alisting that is an advertisement or other form of content publication.

A listing management engine 210 allows sellers to manage such listings.Specifically, where a particular seller has authored or published alarge number of listings, the management of such listings may present achallenge. The listing management engine 210 provides a number offeatures (e.g., auto-relisting, inventory level monitors, etc.) toassist the seller in managing such listings.

A list assist engine 212 provides information to assist a user increating a listing. The list assist engine 212 analyses listings forsimilar or same products that the user is interested in listing anddetermines data that may be useful for the user. The data may include,for example, a minimum selling price, a maximum selling price, anaverage selling price, a median selling price, average shipping cost,and an average Buy-It-Now price. The various data is returned to theuser and the user may determine based on the returned data, for example,a starting price, whether to use Buy-It-Now, what shipping cost toinclude, or what shipping options to provide in their listing. The listassist engine 212 will be discussed in more detail in connection withFIG. 3 below.

Although the various components of the publication system 120 have beendefined in terms of a variety of individual modules and engines, askilled artisan will recognize that many of the items can be combined ororganized in other ways. Furthermore, not all components of thepublication system 120 have been included in FIG. 2. In general,components, protocols, structures, and techniques not directly relatedto functions of example embodiments (e.g., navigation engine, accountengine, dispute resolution engine, loyalty promotion engine,personalization engines, etc.) have not been shown or discussed indetail. The description given herein simply provides a variety ofexample embodiments to aid the reader in an understanding of the systemsand methods used herein.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an example detailed diagram of the list assistengine 214 is shown. The list assist engine 214, alone or in combinationwith the listing creation engine 208, provides mechanisms to providedata that may assist a user in creating a listing for the publicationsystem 120. In example embodiments, the list assist engine 214 gathersinformation from one or more databases (e.g., database 126) that storecurrent listings for similar items/products on the publication system120. The data is then analyzed in order to provide the user withinformation that may be helpful in creating the listing, in alternativeembodiments, completed listings (e.g., pending listings that haveexpired or been transacted) may also be analyzed.

In example embodiments, the list assist engine 214 comprises a searchitem module 302, a retrieve data module 304, a store module 306, ananalysis module 308, and a format module 310. While particular modulesare presented as being embodied within the list assist engine 214, oneor more of the modules may be located within the listing creation engine208 or elsewhere in the networked system 102. Furthermore,functionalities of one or more of the list assist engine 214 may becombined within a single module, be separated between a plurality ofmodules, or be optional.

The search item module 302 performs an initial search to determine andpresent a product category list to the user. In example embodiments, aquery is received from a user interface at the client device 110. Thequery may comprise one or more keywords for an item that the user isinterested in listing on the publication system 120. The search itemmodule 302 then searches the databases 126 for product categories thatcorrespond to the query and returns the product category list to theclient device 110.

In some embodiments, the search item module 302 is associated with aSearchItemServlet. This servlet makes a call to a publication API, whichtakes either a string of the keywords or a product identifier (ID) as aninput and returns a list of product categories that corresponds with thekeywords. In one example, the list includes up to twenty productcategories, although any number of products may be returned inalternative embodiments. The returned product category list may be in anXML format whereby each product category in the returned productcategory list may be associated with a title, image URL, or product ID.

The retrieve data module 304 retrieves information for analysis based ona refinement request that is a selection of one of the productcategories from the product category list by the user. The refinementrequest include a product ID, a product ID type (e.g., reference ID,ISBN, UPC, or EAN), or any other form of an identification correspondingto the selected product category. The product ID or product ID type maybe used to retrieve current item listings (or information from thecurrent item listings) on the publication system 120.

In some embodiments, the item listings may be retrieved in a paginatedform. The store module 306 stores the item listings that are retrievedin the paginated form and parses the stored information to identifyindividual item listings. The parsed item listing may comprise variablesrepresenting different types of information. For example, variables suchas current price, shipping cost, and Buy It Now! price may be stored asdoubles, while options such as immediate payment, best offer, and Buy ItNow! may be stored as Booleans. Enums may be created for listing type,shipping type, and selling state of various items since these variableshave a set number of possible values.

The analysis module 308 determines listing assistance data to bepresented to the user at the client device 110. In one embodiment, theanalysis module 308 takes the retrieved data (e.g., stored parsed data)and determines a minimum and maximum selling price. The analysis module308 may also calculate an average selling price, a median selling price,an average shipping cost, and an average Buy It Now! price based on theretrieved data. Additionally, counts of different listing formats aredetermined by the analysis module 308. The counts may include, forexample, number of immediate and non-immediate payment listings, numberof best offer and non-best offer listings, number of Buy It Now andnon-Buy It Now listings, numbers of different listing types (e.g.,advertisement, auctions, auctions with Buy It Now, classified ads, fixedprice, or store inventory) and numbers of different shipping methodsused (e.g., calculated, flat, international, free, free pickup, freight,or not specified).

The listing assistance data determined by the analysis module 308 isformatted by the format module 310 and transmitted to the client device110 for rendering in the user interface. In one embodiment, the listingassistance data is formatted into a JSON string for transmission.

In one embodiment, the retrieve data module 304, store module 306,analysis module 308, and format module 310 may be associated with aRetrieveDataServlet. This servlet may take the received product ID orproduct ID type and call the publication API, which uses the product IDand product ID type to retrieve the item listings on the publicationsystem 120. In embodiments where the item listings are returnedpaginated, multiple API calls may be made.

FIG. 4 are screenshots of a list assist user interface (UI) 400 forpresenting listing assistance data (e.g., displayed on the client device110) to the user. In one embodiment, the list assist UI 400 is providedusing Adobe Flex. FIG. 4 a illustrates an initial view of the listassist UI 400. The list assist UI 400 includes a search field 402 wherethe user may enter one or more keywords for their query. In the exampleof FIG. 4 a, the user enters “Nintendo Wii” in the search field 402.Once entered, a search button 404 may be selected which will cause thequery to be sent to the publication system 120. For example, the contentof the search field 402 may be forwarded to the search item module 302.

In response to the query, results in the form of a product category listis returned to the client device 110 and displayed as tiles in a listportion 406. Each tile represents a product category from the returnedproduct list and may display an image and a title. For example, a tile408 is provided for a Nintendo Wii game console category. In oneembodiment, up to twenty product categories may be displayed for a givenquery. The results may not be sorted by any metric and may be in anyorder. Alternatively, the results may be sorted by any means (e.g.,alphabetically, by popularity, by relevance). The user may then selectone of the tiles to obtain listing assistance data.

Referring now to FIG. 4 b, the list assist UI 400 is expanded to includea statistics portion 410 located below the list portion 406. In exampleembodiments, when the user selects one of the tiles, an application ofthe list assist UI 400 sends a request-containing a product ID numberand product ID type to the publication system 120 (e.g., retrieve datamodule 304). The publication system 120 retrieves information based onthe request and returns data to populate the statistics portion 410. Inone embodiment, the returned data is in the form of a JavaScript ObjectNotation (JSON) response. The application of the list assist UI 400parses the response to extract statistics (e.g., six pricing values anddata for pie charts).

In the present example, the selection of the Nintendo Wii tile 408returns current statistics for the Nintendo Wii gaming console. Thecurrent statistics include values, such as, a minimum selling price 412,a maximum selling price 414, an average selling price 416, a medianselling price 418, a minimum shipping cost 420, and an average Buy ItNow! price 422. Additionally, the current statistics may include piecharts, such as, an immediate payment availability chart 424, a bestoffer availability chart 426, a Buy It Now! availability chart 428, alisting types used chart 430 (shown in FIG. 4 c), and a shipping methodused chart 432 (shown in FIG. 4 c). It should be noted that otherstatistics, alternatively, less statistics may be determined anddisplayed on the list assist UI 400.

With embodiments displaying a large number of pie charts, the pie chartsmay be displayed in a scrollable format. For example, the immediatepayment availability chart 424, the best offer availability chart 426,and the Buy It Now! availability chart 428 are shown in FIG. 4 b in thestatistics portion 410. Upon using a scroll bar 434, the listing typesused chart 430 and the shipping method used chart 432 will becomevisible in the statistics portion 410 as shown in FIG. 4 c. Alternativeembodiments may display all the statistics on a single page or use otherdisplay mechanisms and styles to present the statistics.

The user may hover over any section of a pie chart and a datatip willpop up giving the user more detailed information. For example andreferring to FIG. 4 d, when the user hovers over the immediate paymentavailability chart 424, a datatip 436 is displayed. The datatip 436indicates a percentage of listings (e.g., 11%) and a number of listings(e.g., 79) that offer an immediate payment option.

Using the information presented in the list assist UI 400, the user caninfer how to price their items on the publication system. For exampleand based on the information presented in FIG. 4, the user can determinethat a majority of the auctions for the Nintendo Wii gaming console donot provide immediate payment, best offer, or Buy It Now! options. Thus,the user may decide to list their Nintendo Wii gaming console withoutany of these options since other listings do not use these options.Alternatively, the user may decide to use one or more of these optionsin order to distinguish their listing from the majority of the listingson the publication system 120. Thus, the information presented in thelist assist UI 400 aids the user in their decision making for how toprice and list their item on the publication system 120.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example high-level method 500 forproviding listing assistance. In example embodiments, the operations ofthe method 500 are performed at the publication system 120 (e.g., listassist engine 212). In operation 502, a query is received from a user atthe client device 110 by the search item module 302. The query maycomprise one or more keywords directed to an item of interest mat theuser wants to list in a publication. Using the keywords, the search itemmodule 302 performs a search of the database 126 for product categoriesthat match the query. The resulting product category list may beformatted (e.g., XML) and returned to the client device 110.

In operation 504, a refinement request is received from the clientdevice 110 by the retrieve data module 304. The refinement requestcomprises a product ID or product ID type corresponding to one of theproduct categories returned in the product category list of operation502. The refinement request identifies a particular product category forwhich the user wants listing assistance data.

In operation 506, a search is performed using the product ID or productID type by the retrieve data module 304. In example embodiments, theretrieve data module 304 retrieves information for current listings ofthe publication system 120 that correspond to (e.g., match) the productID or product ID type.

The retrieved information is analyzed in operation 508 by the analysismodule 308. By analyzing the retrieved information, the analysis module308 determines current statistics of listings on the publication system102. Operation 508 will be discussed in more detail in connection withFIG. 6 below.

The results of the analysis is formatted and transmitted to the user inoperation 510. In one embodiment, the format module 310 formats theresults into a JSON format for transmission to the client device 110.Alternative embodiments may contemplate the use of other formats basedon requirements of the application rendering the user interface at theclient device 110.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an example detailed method (e.g., operation508) for performing analysis in order to provide listing assistance. Inoperation 602, the retrieved information of operation 506 may be storedand parsed by the store module 306. In some embodiments, the retrievedinformation may be received in a paginated format. As such, the storemodule 306 stores the item listings that are retrieved in the paginatedform and parses the information for each individual item listings fromthe pages.

In operation 604, values may be calculated based on information for eachof the item listings by the analysis module 308. In example embodiments,the analysis module 308 calculates one or more of a minimum sellingprice, a maximum selling price, an average selling price, and a medianselling price. The analysis module 308 may also calculate an averageshipping cost in operation 606 and an average Buy It Now price inoperation 608.

In operation 610, the analysis module 308 also determines counts basedon the information from the individual listings. The counts may include,for example, number of immediate and non-immediate payment listings,number of best offer and non-best offer listings, number of Buy It Nowand non-Buy It Now listings, numbers of different listing types (e.g.,advertisement, auctions, auctions with Buy It Now, classified ads, fixedprice, or store inventory) and numbers of different shipping methodsused (e.g., calculated, flat, international, free, free pickup, freight,or not specified). It is noted that the analysis module 308 maycalculate or determine other values and counts.

While example embodiments of the listing assistance method are presentedin FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, alternative embodiments may be contemplated thatperform the operations of the method in a different order, make someoperations optional, combine operations, or delete operations.

Modules, Components, and Logic

Additionally, certain embodiments described herein may be implemented aslogic or a number of modules, engines, components, or mechanisms. Amodule, engine, logic, component, or mechanism (collectively referred toas a “module”) may be a tangible unit capable of performing certainoperations and configured or arranged in a certain manner. In certainexample embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone,client, or server computer system) or one or more components of acomputer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may beconfigured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) orfirmware (note that software and firmware can generally be usedinterchangeably herein as is known by a skilled artisan) as a modulethat operates to perform certain operations described herein.

In various embodiments, a module may be implemented mechanically orelectronically. For example, a module may comprise dedicated circuitryor logic that is permanently configured (e.g., within a special-purposeprocessor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or array) toperform certain operations. A module may also comprise programmablelogic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purposeprocessor or other programmable processor) that is temporarilyconfigured by software or firmware to perform certain operations. Itwill be appreciated that a decision to implement a module mechanically,in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarilyconfigured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by,for example, cost, time, energy-usage, and package size considerations.

Accordingly, the term “module” should be understood to encompass atangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed,permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured(e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certainoperations described herein. Considering embodiments in which modules orcomponents are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of themodules or components need not be configured or instantiated at any oneinstance in time. For example, where the modules or components comprisea general-purpose processor configured using software, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respective differentmodules at different times. Software may accordingly configure theprocessor to constitute a particular module at one instance of time andto constitute a different module at a different instance of time.

Modules can provide information to, and receive information from, othermodules. Accordingly, the described modules may be regarded as beingcommunicatively coupled. Where multiples of such modules existcontemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signaltransmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connectthe modules. In embodiments in which multiple modules are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such modules maybe achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval ofinformation in memory structures to which the multiple modules haveaccess. For example, one module may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further module may then, at a later time,access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output.Modules may also initiate communications with input or output devicesand can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information).

With reference to FIG. 7, an example embodiment extends to a machine inthe example form of a computer system 700 within which instructions forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein may be executed. In alternative example embodiments,the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g.,networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine mayoperate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server-clientnetwork environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (ordistributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer(PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, a switchor bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequentialor otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 700 may include a processor 702 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 704 and a static memory 706, which communicate witheach other via a bus 708. The computer system 700 may further include avideo display unit 710 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or acathode ray tube (CRT)). In example embodiments, the computer system 700also includes one or more of an alpha-numeric input device 712 (e.g., akeyboard), a user interface (UI) navigation device or cursor controldevice 714 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 716, a signal generationdevice 718 (e.g., a speaker), and a network interface device 720.

The disk drive unit 716 includes a machine-readable storage medium 722on which is stored one or more sets of instructions 724 and datastructures (e.g., software instructions) embodying or used by any one ormore of the methodologies or functions described herein. Theinstructions 724 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 704 or within the processor 702 during executionthereof by the computer system 700, with the main memory 704 and theprocessor 702 also constituting machine-readable media.

While the machine-readable storage medium 722 is shown in an exampleembodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable storagemedium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)that store the one or more instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of embodiments of the present invention, or that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by orassociated with such instructions. The term “machine-readable storagemedium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to,solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. Specific examplesof machine-readable storage media include non-volatile memory, includingby way of example semiconductor memory devices (e.g., ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices);magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 724 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 726 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 720 and utilizing any one of a number of well-knowntransfer protocols (e.g., HTTP). Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), theInternet, mobile telephone networks, POTS networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., WiFi and WiMax networks). The term “transmission medium”shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine, and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, various modificationsand changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit and scope of embodiments of the present invention. Suchembodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein,individually or collectively, by the term “invention” merely forconvenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of thisapplication to any single invention or inventive concept if more thanone is, in fact disclosed.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Moreover, plural instances may be provided for resources, operations, orstructures described herein as a single instance. Additionally,boundaries between various resources, operations, modules, engines, anddata stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations areillustrated in a context of specific illustrative configurations. Otherallocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within a scopeof various embodiments of the present invention. In general, structuresand functionality presented as separate resources in the exampleconfigurations may be implemented as a combined structure or resource.Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single resourcemay be implemented as separate resources. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within a scope ofembodiments of the present invention as represented by the appendedclaims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regardedin an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A method comprising: receiving a query related to an item of interestfrom a device of a user; performing a search for product categories thatcorrespond to the query; providing a list of the product categories thatresulted from the query to the device of the user; receiving a selectionof a category from the list of the product categories that resulted fromthe query; accessing information corresponding to the category that wasselected; generating, using a processor of a machine, statistics datausing the information accessed that corresponds to the category that wasselected; and causing the statistics data to be displayed to the deviceof the user.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theselection corresponds to a product identifier and product identifiertype.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing of the informationfrom the category comprises making one or more API calls to a databaseof a publication system for publications within the category that wasselected.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing of theinformation comprises: receiving a plurality of publications within thecategory that was selected from a publication system in a paginatedformat; storing pages of the plurality of publications; and parsing thepages to identify individual publications.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the generating of the statistics data comprises determining aminimum price and a maximum price for the category.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the generating of the statistics data comprisescalculating at least one selection from the group consisting of anaverage price, a median price, and an average shipping cost.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the generating of the statistics datacomprises determining count data for one or more listing formats.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the listing formats are selected from a groupconsisting of immediate payment availability, best offer availability,Buy It Now availability, listing type used, and shipping method used.10. The method of claim 8, wherein the count data are formatted forpresentation as pie charts for display on a user interface on the deviceof the user.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing of theinformation comprises accessing information for item listings on anetworked marketplace.
 12. A system comprising: a processor of amachine; a search item module to receive a query related to an item ofinterest from a device of a user, to perform a search for productcategories that correspond to the query, and to provide a list of theproduct categories that resulted from the query to the device of theuser; a retrieve data module to receive a selection of a category fromthe list of product categories that resulted from the query and toaccess information corresponding to the category that was selected; ananalysis module to generate, using the processor, statistics data usingthe information accessed that corresponds to the category that wasselected; and a format module to cause the statistics data to bedisplayed to the device of the user.
 13. (canceled)
 14. Amachine-readable storage medium in communication with at least oneprocessor, the machine-readable storage medium storing instructionswhich, when executed by the at least one processor, perform operationscomprising: receiving a query related to an item of interest from adevice of a user; performing a search for product categories thatcorrespond to the query; providing a list of the product categories thatresulted from the query to the device of the user; receiving a selectionof a category from the list of the product categories that resulted fromthe query; accessing information corresponding to the category that wasselected; generating statistics data using the information accessed thatcorresponds to the category that was selected; and causing thestatistics data to be displayed to the device of the user. 15.(canceled)
 16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, whereinthe accessing of the information comprises: receiving a plurality ofpublications within the category that was selected from a publicationsystem in a paginated format; storing pages of the plurality ofpublications; and parsing the pages to identify individual publications.17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein thegenerating of the statistics data comprises determining a minimum priceand a maximum price for the category.
 18. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 14, wherein the generating of the statistics datacomprises calculating at least one selection from the group consistingof an average price, a median price, and an average shipping cost. 19.The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the generatingof the statistics data comprises determining count data for one or morelisting formats.
 20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19,wherein the count data are formatted for presentation as pie charts fordisplay on a user interface on the device of the user.
 21. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the query comprises keywords directed to the item ofinterest.